Last Wednesday, at a press conference to address the UHS debt, Prime Minister Barrow said that he had come into information from a trusted source that Lord Michael Ashcroft had visited Belize and suggested that he met with the People’s United Party. The PM suggested that the purpose of the meeting was for Ashcroft to bankroll the Opposition ahead of the upcoming municipal elections. Today, Party Leader John Briceño refuted those claims. He says that whenever the prime minister is faced with a difficult circumstance, he resorts to deflecting from the gravity of the situation by introducing a red herring. For context, we will air what the prime minister said during the brief, followed by Briceño’s response.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Ashcroft arrived, perhaps on the same day that I left. That is a fact. What is not a fact, but what my sources say is that he met with the P.U.P. to talk about providing them with materia de guerra, remember there are elections coming. And you know that they can’t, the P.U.P. gets any materia de guerra except they will vote when the matter comes to parliament for the payment of unconscionable, illegal bargain to Ashcroft.”

John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader

“The prime minister is a spin master and the problem that has been happening now is that he is spinning so fast that ih cyant even know how to stand up straight and to say the truth because, as far as I know, I am the leader of this party and nobody has asked me if they can meet with Lord Ashcroft. I certainly have not met with Lord Ashcroft. I was out of the country and I came in on Tuesday. But that is always the prime minister, you know, from the day he has been in government that the minute he has a problem in front of him he always throws something at you for you to be able to run at that bone and forget what really is in front of you and what really is important and the prime minister has been trying to use this as a distraction.”